This is the first application filed in respect of the present invention.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates to communication networks and, in particular, to Enhanced Communication Services (ECS) operative within a communication network and designed to meet the requirements of modern users and to an ECS enabled network incorporating such enhanced communication services.
Communication networks have historically been constructed using models and protocols as guides. Networking models and protocols have proliferated over the past few years as new networks have been introduced or existing networks have evolved to accommodate new end-user, device and application requirements. The proliferation of networking models has been manifested in monolithic, highly integrated network and network component architectures. Functionality and products developed for a target group of end-users, devices or applications are almost invariably not readily extendible to another network without extensive modification or complete re-creation. New networks cannot capitalize on functionality and protocols developed for previous networks because monolithic integrated designs do not permit porting. Current networks provide limited choice of services and the choices available are often difficult to access. Adding new functionality to installed networks requires complex modifications of the previously existing functionality. The time required to implement these modifications is incompatible with the modern competitive communication business environment where the speed to market greatly influences total revenues earned. As a result, the present network space consists of a collection of heterogenous modern and legacy networks, each operating under respective different models and protocols (e.g. TDMA, frame relay, ATM, TCP/IP etc.); utilising different transport media (e.g. copper, fibre, satellite etc.), and frequently owned by different business entities. Federated networks are edge-connected by means of gateway servers, permitting transport of communication data between the networks. However, where federated networks are dissimilar, adaptation services are required to facilitate the transport of data across the networks. Thus a modern user of communication services must be conscious of the network technology to which they have access, and must assess its suitability for any desired communication session. Additionally, the user must consciously interact with the network, in a manner dictated by the network model, in order to achieve their communication goals.
In the context of the present invention, adjoining communication networks are considered to be xe2x80x9cdissimilarxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cheterogeneousxe2x80x9d if their respective models, protocols and/or transport media are sufficiently different that communication data originating in one network cannot be transported by an adjoining network without conversion of the data. Such conversion of data, referred to herein as xe2x80x9cadaptationxe2x80x9d, is an automated process (which may or may not be user selected) to facilitate transport of data across the heterogeneous networks. For example, a site network operating under the TCP/IP protocol may be edge-connected with a collector network operating under the ATM protocol. Data originating in the site network must be adapted (e.g. in a gateway server intermediate the two networks) to conform to the ATM protocol before it can be transported by the collector network.
Modern voice communication networks have evolved in the twentieth century with a focus on creating universal telephone services. Currently, a revolution in telecommunications is underway that holds the promise of providing ubiquitous service for multimedia applications. The development and evolution of these multimedia applications are largely driven by market forces (the demands of end users) and offered by vendors who are usually unrelated to the owners of the transport media used for the multimedia communication sessions. Multimedia communication sessions are typically mediated by edge service providers (e.g. Internet Service Providersxe2x80x94ISP""s), who are frequently unaffiliated with owners of network transport media, and who may offer complex edge services to augment the power of content applications being used by their customers.
In order to achieve a goal of ubiquitous multimedia communication, modern networks are in need of an enabling interoperability infrastructure, just as in the past computers were in the need of a data network. It is widely recognized that networking solutions need to take into account increasingly powerful edge services and content applications that are currently available or are under development.
Others have addressed this need by contributing to the design of network architectures aimed at providing ubiquitous access to multimedia services. For example, the Telecommunications Information Networking Architecture Consortium (TINA-C) have produced a document entitled Service Architecture Version: 5.0 dated Jun. 16, 1997. The TINA-C architecture stems from a guiding principle arising from market, industry and sociological trend analysis. The key trends analyzed in devising the architecture include: layering the network architecture to move application and service logic out of transport nodes and specific telecommunications technologies to higher level entities; providing telecommunications in a multi-player, multi-provider environment; and, user choice of telecommunication services. The TINA-C architecture is a three macro-layer view of the network that assumes a middleware distributed processing domain, and utilises Open Distributed Processing (ODP) similar to that defined by the Object Management Group (OMG). The TINA-C architecture advocates technology independent views of transport elements and connections by representing both abstractly. It also includes the concept of a services broker used to match communication services in the middle layer and transport layers with user specifications. Communication can be effected across federated, heterogeneous networks and adaptation occurs at network edges as a part of a Resource Partition Layer.
Another network architecture has been proposed by the MultiMedia Communications Forum, Inc. (MMCF) in a paper entitled Reference Architecture Model Specifications dated 1995. The purpose of the document is to provide a framework for the structure of the integrated services required by distributed multimedia applications. The focus is on the aspects of the architectural model that support multimedia communication applications such as multimedia conferencing and multimedia information service. The underlying technology is not of primary focus. The MMCF architectural framework consists of logical domains which offer a set of services and their respective functions. The partitioning addresses the complex problem of communicating between distributed application processes. Each domain is accessed by functions in other domains through an open interface referred to as an Application Program Interface (API). The open interface shields each domain from the specific characteristics of the functions and services provided by other domains. Thus, the specification of domains may evolve with changing technology without directly impacting other domain specifications. Within this model resides a manager entity, associated with the application, middleware, media device and transport domains to manage information flow sent/received from the network and delivered to the end-user.
The MMCF reference architecture model consists of a user presentation layer, an application domain layer, a middleware domain layer, and a lower layer which is divided into a media device domain sector and a transport domain sector. APIs are provided between each of the four layers to enable inter-layer communication. Communications are handled in a trickle-down, trickle-up format in which direct communication appears to be enabled only between adjacent layers. User applications must therefore traverse each intervening layer in order to initiate a communication session regardless of the simplicity of the user""s requirement. This leads to complication in network infrastructure, contributes to costs and decreases efficiency.
There therefore exists a need for ECS that provide access to network transport services from a network edge or from content applications in order to ensure the flexibility required to satisfy the communication requirements of a diverse community of users, and to permit efficient inter-working of federated networks. There also exists a need for ECS in a multilayer network in which each of the layers and layer components may be utilized as self-contained logical entities and may be owned by separate business entities.
It is an object of the invention to provide Enhanced Communication Services (ECS) operative within a layered network in which the functionality of logical components is clearly separated.
It is a further object of the invention to provide ECS in which logical agents respectively provide contact, exchange, and transport services for a multimedia session.
Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention provides an Enhanced Communication Services layer adapted for connection intermediate a content application layer and a transport services layer of a communication network, the content application layer being adapted to generate payload data of a service instance, and the transport services layer comprising a physical fabric of the communication network and being adapted for end-to-end transport of the payload data across the communication network, the Enhanced Communication Services layer comprising: a Contact Agent adapted to discover information identifying parties involved in a service instance; an Exchange Agent responsive to the Contact Agent and adapted to select, from a network space comprising one or more transport services, a best match set of transport services for the service instance; and a Transport Agent responsive to the Exchange Agent for engaging the selected set of transport services for a duration of the service instance.
A further aspect of the invention provides a method of providing Enhanced Communication Services in a communication network, the method comprising the steps of: discovering information identifying the parties involved in a service instance; selecting, from a network space comprising one or more transport services, a best match set of transport services for the service instance; and engaging the selected set of transport services for the duration of the service instance.
A further aspect of the present invention provides a communication network adapted for providing flexible communication services between end users, the network comprising: a Content Application Layer adapted for generating payload data of a service instance; a Transport Services Layer adapted for end-to-end transport of the payload data; and an Enhanced Communication Services layer intermediate the content application layer and the transport services layer, the Enhanced Communication Services layer comprising: a Contact Agent responsive to the Content Application Layer and adapted to discover information identifying parties involved in the service instance; an Exchange Agent responsive to the Contact Agent and adapted to select, from a network space comprising one or more transport services, a best match set of transport services for the service instance; and a Transport Agent responsive to the Exchange Agent for engaging the selected set of transport services for a duration of the service instance.
A still further aspect of the present invention provides a Contact Agent operable in a communication network having a content application layer adapted to generate payload data of a service instance, the Contact Agent being responsive to the Content Application Layer and comprising: a profile construction portion adapted to construct a respective party profile for each party involved in the service instance; and an API generating portion adapted to generate one or more communication primitives defining, in respect of the service instance, any one or more of: each party profile constructed by the profile construction portion; and a communication service required for the service instance session.
A still further aspect of the present invention provides an Exchange Agent operable in a communication network having a content application layer adapted to generate payload data of a service instance, and a transport services layer comprising a physical fabric of the communication network and being adapted for end-to-end transport of the payload data across the communication network, the Exchange Agent being adapted to select, from a network space comprising one or more transport services, a best match set of transport services for the service instance, and comprising: a service management portion adapted to select a respective best match end-point device for each party involved in the service instance; a directory services portion adapted to resolve a physical address on the network corresponding to each selected end-point device; and a session control portion adapted to select, from the network space, a best match set of transport services for end-to-end connectivity between the selected end-point devices.
A still further aspect of the present invention provides a Transport Agent operable in a communication network having a content application layer adapted to generate payload data of a service instance, and a transport services layer comprising a physical fabric of the communication network and being adapted for end-to-end transport of the payload data across the communication network, the Transport Agent being adapted to engage, from the transport services layer, a best match set of transport media to accomplish end-to-end transport of the payload data of the service instance, and comprising: a directory services portion adapted to determine a best-match route for end-to end connectivity across the communication network; and a session control portion adapted to engage, in the transport services layer, transport services layer devices corresponding to the best-match route.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the ECS architecture can enable multimedia communication across a diverse network space of content applications and network provider alternatives. Multimedia is a ubiquitous element in the way people work, play, and conduct business; and places high demands on network infrastructures to deliver quality-of-service guarantees. In the context of this invention, the definition of xe2x80x9cmultimediaxe2x80x9d entails the technical aspects of using one or more media types (text, images, graphics, speech, audio, video, and data files) for the purpose of communicating across transmission, storage, access and content creation applications. Thus defined, the term xe2x80x9cmultimediaxe2x80x9d also includes conventional communications involving a single media type, such as, for example, e-mail (text) and voice (plain old telephonexe2x80x94POTS) communication.
In the context of the present invention, the term xe2x80x9clogical agentxe2x80x9d (or simply xe2x80x9cagentxe2x80x9d) refers to a software component which performs a task on behalf of a party (e.g. a user, machine, content application, or another agent) rather than have the party perform the task itself. This reflects traditional dictionary meanings, for example one who acts for another, and does not specifically refer to mobile autonomous software. Various agents can be employed within the ECS architecture to achieve dynamic instantiation of appropriate communication components for each service instance. The role of agents is to enable parties to communicate easily and effectively across diverse network domains. In combination, the agents serve to combine infrastructure capabilities into a service instance that meets the goals defined by the parties. The term agent also serves to emphasize that the xe2x80x9cdelegationxe2x80x9d of tasks insulates each layer from the technical details of the layers that lie beneath it. The emphasis is on the ability of network-based middleware services to independently interoperate with other software services. Each agent can be comprised of one or more functionally-related logical units which co-operate to provide the functionality of the agent in question. This enables the adoption of technologies as they mature for use in the communication industry, such as distributed component software, intelligent agents, brokerage and knowledge databases.
In an embodiment of the invention, each of the agents are accessed by means of primitives enabling users, edge services and content applications to access network transport services while being shielded from the underlying technology of both the logical agents and the network transport services. This facilitates a clear separation of logical functionality of network components. End-user communication appliances and content applications (including GUI functionality) can be built without reference to any specific network model, protocol or transport medium. Similarly, transport devices (e.g. switches, routers etc.) can be provided with minimum (i.e. only path dependent) installed software which can be accessed and controlled through the use of device-specific primitives. Network functionality including party (address) identification, selection and engagement of network services (including contracts, brokerage, proxies, negotiation, and, where necessary, adaptation services) and communication session control, management and administration, as well as end-to end connectivity control functions, can be accessed and controlled by the ECS of the present invention.
Advantageously, functionality within the ECS can be further subdivided into logical components, which can be accessed and controlled (and which interact with each other) by means of primitives. The set of primitives used by the ECS form a universal interface language permitting end users, content applications and edge services to engage network functionality without being conscious of the underlying technology. Thus ECS logical (and other network) components can be developed and evolve independently, and be supported by independent business entities, thereby facilitating a rich and constantly evolving network space. End users interact with each other, not the network.
Enhanced Communication Services of the present invention do not require a single system architecture for all networks, just as the Internet does not require a single system architecture for all the computers that are connected to it. As a network-based middleware, ECS is designed to fit between content applications and transport providers. The associated benefits of this approach are that it:
Insulates users from the complexities of establishing communications;
Adapts the network to user""s capabilities, rather than forcing the user to adapt to the network""s offerings;
Allows network and service providers to utilize multiple technologies to meet user requirements in the most cost-effective fashion;
Shields applications from the impact of technology changes by separation of content applications from transport;
Creates a path towards achieving an open network-based platform capable of supporting a diverse range of multimedia based content applications;
Enables greater collaboration across services by utilising a xe2x80x9cself-servicexe2x80x9d approach to networking (e.g. agent collaboration);
xe2x80x9cfuture proofsxe2x80x9d the overall of design of network services by providing a requirement-driven interface between applications and networks;
Creates a universal framework for multivendor interoperability;
Provides a vehicle for network vendors to deliver value added features (i.e. security, flexible billing, and virtual networking policies);
Avoids the inherent difficulty of supporting a large number of vertically integrated products; and
Simplifies the design and support of network equipment.
Enhanced Communication Services provide network-based middleware services that intelligently bridge the gap between smart edge and smart networks. In addition, the invention addresses the key challenge of providing diversity of network services while maintaining simplicity of use.
Building communication solutions based on a modular functional approach has the advantage of allowing flexibility in how agents are packaged. It is expected that ECS will not be implemented as a complete system, rather will be realized through the evolution of several products. These products will reflect the challenge of delivering party identification, device independence, next generation session management and multivendor interworking. With this in mind, each agent has been positioned to possess values needed to meet these challenges and can be deployed as stand-alone product offerings.
Content providers (e.g. access providers and/or vendors of content application software) will be able to build content solutions that can operate over any communication infrastructure. Enhanced Communication Services, according to an embodiment of the invention, will enable content providers to deploy multimedia based content applications with greater simplicity and ubiquity. Network providers will be able to build network solutions that consist of products from multiple vendors. Enhanced Communication Services according to an embodiment of the invention will enable network providers to build competitive solutions over heterogeneous computing and networking environments. ECS also offers an evolution path for both IP and TDM networks.